South Africa's finmin Gigaba says to meet with Moody's to stave off downgrade

CAPE TOWN, April 13 (Reuters) - South Africa's new Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba said on Thursday he would meet with ratings firm Moody's to convince them the country would stay on the path of fiscal discipline, in order to avoid a third credit downgrade.

Gigaba, who replaced the respected Pravin Gordhan in a cabinet reshuffle that triggered credit downgrades to subinvestment by S&amp;P Global Ratings and Fitch, told local investors he would clarify Treasury's policy positions to Moody's on an upcoming roadshow overseas.

"We will do all we can to avoid another downgrade and one of the ways to do that is to engage with Moody´s directly, to demonstrate our willingness to stay the course in terms of fiscal discipline and fiscal consolidation," Gigaba told the media after briefing investors at parliament. (Reporting by Wendell Roelf; Writing by Mfuneko Toyana; Editing by James Macharia)